Isaiah

I can't escape the feeling that something here is inaccessible to me, and I worry that I am being somehow blocked from understanding it. "The vision of all this has become a sealed document. If it is given to those with the command, 'Read this,' they say, 'We cannot, for it is sealed'" (30:11). Nonetheless, I share what I glean from the margins of this seemingly inscrutable book with you, dear reader.

I like to think that Isaiah is either two different people, or else suffering from multiple personality disorder. He seems to have two diametrically opposed viewpoints on every topic. For instance, there is the subject of prophecy, central to the gravitas of the book. At one point, Isaiah seems to agree with Boethius that God's power of prophecy stems from his perception of time as simultaneous, instead of linear. It is thus that he is able to reveal the future to his prophet, as though withdrawing a curtain. "He will destroy on his mountain / the shroud that is cast over all peoples, / the sheet that is spread over all nations" Isaiah describes (though not necessarily regarding prophecy) (25:7). And by the same token, he is able to draw the curtain over the eyes of those who needn't see the whole of time: "He has closed your eyes, you prophets, / and covered your heads, you seers" (29:10).

Elsewhere, however, Isaiah presents an entirely different model of prophecy. At times, there is a distinct linearity to Isaiah's experience. When JEHOVAH declares, "I am God, and there is no one like me, / declaring from the end the beginning," it is because "[His] purpose shall stand, / and [he] will fulfill [his] intention" (46:10). In other words, the divine gift of prophecy comes from the inescapability of the divine will; "I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass," God declares, "I have planned and I will do it" (46:11). Both models are functional and give birth to different lines of philosophical reasoning.

This level of contradiction is not upsetting to me. I find the formation of a synthesis between the two models engaging and a worthy pursuit. And Isaiah even seems to acknowledge the paradox when he writes, "In its time, I will accomplish it quickly," highlighting both the agency of God and the influence of fate (60:22). What is more unnerving is the contradictory pictures in Isaiah of the personality of God. With the same breath, the God of Isaiah declares, " . . . there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom," and, "Through the wrath of JEHOVAH of hosts the land was burned / and the people became like fuel for the fire" (10: 7,19). Isaiah spends entire chapters explaining this seeming capriciousness of God, and comes up with several ideas:

Firstly, Isaiah seems to think that God alternatingly destroys Israel and rescues her for the sake of his name. "for my own sake, for my own sake, I do it," he exclaims. "For why should my name be profaned?" (48:11). Such a narcissistic god hardly seems worthy of worship.

Alternately, Isaiah paints a portrait of God that is capricious and whimsical in his treatment of his people. After he has used Babylon to ravish Israel, he turns around and ravishes Babylon through Cyrus, releasing Israel. And that is not even to speak of his constant reversals on the subject of "My people," which I don't feel up to delineating. Such an inconsistent god seems equally unworthy.

The approach that resonates with me is described in Isaiah 30:20. "Though the lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore." "See, I have refined you, but not like silver;" he consoles the reader, "I have tested you in the furnace of adversity" (48:10). The people of God experience alternating capture and release, not due to God's indecisiveness, but for their own purification. That which is difficult is also necessary for growth.

Which is a comfort to me, having recently been through the fire of adversity. "Look to the rock from which you were hewn, / and to the quarry from which you were dug," JEHOVAH reminds me (51:1). Perhaps he will manage to make a man out of me yet.